Volume 3
Articles

Covid-19: Questioning Public Healthcare Systems and Scientific Approaches

PDF
  • Soumya Bera
    ,
  • Dibyendu Das
    ,
  • Raghunath Chelakkot
    ,
  • Dipjyoti Das
Soumya Bera
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, Maharashtra
Dibyendu Das
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, Maharashtra,
Raghunath Chelakkot
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, Maharashtra
Dipjyoti Das
Department of Biological Sciences, IISER Kolkata, Mohanpur, Nadia 741 246, West Bengal,

Published 2023-09-02

Keywords

  • Public Healthcare, Eco-social Health, Scientific Methods

How to Cite

Bera, S., Das, D., Chelakkot, R., & Das, D. (2023). Covid-19: Questioning Public Healthcare Systems and Scientific Approaches. DIALOGUE: Science, Scientists and Society, 3, 1–15. Retrieved from https://dialogue.ias.ac.in/index.php/dialogue/article/view/33

Abstract

In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we argue that merely focusing on immediate Government decisions and scientific modeling directed to assist such immediate measures, leaves us with limited scope for eradication and prevention of such a global crisis. We should widen our perspective and methods of analysis to include the long-term economic, social and ecological causes which all combine to intensify the likelihood of recurrent epidemics, and sustain poor public healthcare systems.

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

  1. John Hopkins CRC 2020. Coronavirus Resource Center. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/.
  2. Healthcare in China 2020 Healthcare in china - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Online; accessed 17-April-2020].
  3. Brinza A. 2020. Chinese Health Care Needs More Communism. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/ 01/28/wuhan-virus-epidemic-china-chinese-health-care-needs-more-communism/.
  4. Zhou V. 2018. Does China have universal health care? A long (and better) answer. https:// www.inkstonenews.com/health/china-translated-does-china-have-universal-health-care/ article/2167579.
  5. Kupferschmidt K. and Cohen J. 2020 China’s aggressive measures have slowed the coro
  6. Kwon S., Lee Tj and Kim Cy 2015 Republic of Korea Health System Review. Vol. 5 No. 4. Manila: World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 2015.
  7. Peoples Health Movement Korea. 2020. PHM Korea statement on COVID-19 outbreak and responses in South Korea. http://phmovement.or.kr/phm-korea-statement-on-covid-19outbreak-and-responses-in-south-korea/.
  8. Bedingfield W. 2020. What the world can learn from South Koreas coronavirus strategy. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/south-korea-coronavirus.
  9. Engelberg S., Song L. and DePillis L. 2020. How South Korea Scaled Coronavirus
  10. Jo E. A. 2020. A Democratic Response to Coronavirus: Lessons from South Korea. https:// thediplomat.com/2020/03/ a-democratic-response-to-coronavirus-lessons-from-south-korea/.
  11. Day P. 2011. Spain health service chokes as austerity tightens. https://www.reuters.com/ article/us-spain-healthcare/spain-health-service-chokes-as-austerity-tightensidUSTRE79A1S120111011.
  12. Global Health Watch 2015 Global Health Watch (reports A1 and B2). https://www.ghwatch.org/node/45484.html.
  13. Jones G. 2015. Indiscriminate cuts threaten Italy’s healthcare successes. https:// www.reuters.com/article/ us-italy-health-awakenings-insight/indiscriminate-cuts-threatenitalys-healthcare-successes-idUSKBN0LZ0G320150303.
  14. Serapioni M. and Hespanha P. 2019. e-cadernos CES [Online] https://doi.org/10.4000/eces.4068.
  15. Pisano G. P., Sadun R. and Zanini M 2020. Lessons from Italy’s Response to Coronavirus. https://hbr.org/2020/03/lessons-from-italys-response-to-coronavirus.
  16. Tremlett G. 2020. How did Spain get its coronavirus response so wrong? https:// www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/spain-coronavirus-response-analysis.
  17. Impelli M. 2020. All the Countries That Are Flattening the Coronavirus Curve. https:// www.newsweek.com/all-countries-that-are-flattening-coronavirus-curve-1497117.
  18. Scott D. 2020. Coronavirus is exposing all of the weaknesses in the US health system. https:// www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/16/21173766/coronavirus-covid-19-us-cases-healthcare-system.
  19. Olsen N. and Zamora D 2020. Pandemics Show How the Free Market Fails Us. https:// www.jacobinmag.com/2020/03/coronavirus-covid-19-capitalism-free-market-crisis.
  20. Nickels W., McHugh J. and McHugh S 2020. One Quarter of American Workers Receive No Paid Sick Leave. http://introbiz.tv/one-quarter-of-american-workers-receive-no-paid-sickleave.
  21. Brien S. O. 2020. Heres what you need to know when it comes to paying for coronavirus treatment. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/heres-what-you-need-to-know-aboutcoronavirus-treatment-costs.html.
  22. Hall L. 2020 Coronavirus: Woman charged $35, 000 by hospital for testing and treatment. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-latest-cost-us-healthcarecovid-19-treatment-health-insurance-a9415641.html.
  23. Mackie K. S. 2020. Canadas COVID-19 response vs. the U.S.: Testing, universal health care and maybe a little luck. https: //news.wbfo.org/post/canada-s-covid-19-response-vs-us-testinguniversal-health-care-and-maybe-little-luck.
  24. The Policy Times. 2020. COVID 19: Testing Cost in Different Countries. https:// thepolicytimes.com/covid-19-testing-cost-in-different-countries.
  25. Ye Y. 2020. Who Is Paying for Coronavirus Patients’ Treatment? https://www.sixthtone.com/ news/1005178/who-is-paying-for-coronavirus-patients-treatment.
  26. ICMR 2020. Indian Council of Medical Research, Covid-19. https://icmr.nic.in/content/covid-19.
  27. JSA 2020. Weekly Update on COVID19 situation Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) and All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN). http://phmindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WeeklyUpdate-COVID19-2nd-April.pdf.
  28. PIB 2020. Government of India sanctions Rs. 15000 crores for India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx? PRID=1612534.
  29. Ayushman Bharat, 2020 Government of India sanctions Rs. 15000 crores for India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package. https://www.pmjay.gov.in/ node/2949.
  30. Shukla A. 2020 We must give highest priority to strengthening the public health system. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/coronavirus-public-health-system-6329470/.
  31. Sengupta A. and Nundy S. 2005. The private health sector in India. BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 331 (7526): 1157-1158
  32. Gadre A. and Shukla A. 2015 Voices of Conscience from the Medical Profession, Explosive testimonials of rational doctors about private medical practice in India. India: Sathi Publications
  33. The Telegraph. 2015. Physician, heal thyself. https://www.telegraphindia.com/7-days/ physician-heal-thyself/cid/1313837.
  34. Pandey K. 2018. Why is private healthcare opposing the Clinical Establishments Act? https:// www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/why-is-private-healthcare-opposing-the-clinicalestablishments-act-59766.
  35. Phadke A. 2010. The Indian Medical Association and the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010: irrational opposition to regulation. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 7 (4): 229-232
  36. Harvey D. 2007. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press
  37. Alma Ata, 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata. https://www.who.int/publications/almaata_declaration_en.pdf.
  38. Rao M. 2010 'Health for All' and neoliberal globalisation: an Indian rope trick Socialist Register 46.
  39. Terris M. 1999. The neoliberal triad of anti-health reforms: government budget cutting, deregulation, and privatization. J. Public Health Policy 20 (2): 149-167
  40. Potter C. and Kim J. 2020. Austerity in reverse: Korea, capabilities, and crisis. International Planning Studies 25 (1): 9-22
  41. Campbell D. 2019. Cuts may leave NHS short of 70,000 nurses, leaked report warns. https:// www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/26/nhs-short-of-70000-nurses-bursaries-abolished
  42. World Bank. 1988. Financing health services in developing countries: an agenda for reform (English). http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/468091468137379607/Financing-healthservices-in-developing-countries-an-agenda-for-reform.
  43. Terhune C., Levine D, Jin H and Lee J. L. 2020. Special Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirus. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-testingspecialrep/special-report-how-korea-trounced-u-s-in-race-to-test-people-for-coronavirusidUSKBN2153BW.
  44. Kulish N., Kliff S. and Silver-Greenberg J. 2020 The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/business/coronavirusus-ventilator-shortage.html?action= click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage.
  45. Oltermann P. 2020. Trump ‘offers large sums’ for exclusive US access to coronavirus vaccine. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/trump-offers-large-sums-for-exclusiveaccess-to-coronavirus-vaccine.
  46. Willsher K., Holmes O, McKernan B., and Tondo L. 2020. US hijacking mask shipments in rush for coronavirus protection. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/global-battle12 coronavirus-equipment-masks-tests.
  47. AP 2020, Cuban Docs Fighting Coronavirus around World, Defying US. https://apnews.com/ 98cfdbf5c4a62a40eba648723e452f3e.
  48. Lindsay E. 2020. Private hospitals will be made public for the duration of the Covid-19 outbreak. https://www.image.ie/life/private-hospitals-will-made-public-duration-covid-19outbreak-186600.
  49. The Democracy Now. 2020. Spain Locks Down & Nationalizes Private Healthcare as Coronavirus Deaths Double & Cases Skyrocket. https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/17/ spain_coronavirus.
  50. Wallace R. 2016. Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agribusiness, and the Nature of Science (Monthly Review Press).
  51. Chuang 2020. Social Contagion: Microbiological war in China. http://chuangcn.org/2020/02/ social-contagion//.
  52. Marx21 interview 2020. Marx21 – Interview with Rob Wallace. https://www.marx21.de/ coronavirus-agribusiness-would-risk-millions-of-deaths/.
  53. MR interview 2020. Who Should We Blame for Coronavirus? Rob Wallace has some answers. https://www.marx21.de/coronavirus-agribusiness-would-risk-millions-of-deaths/.
  54. Andersen K. G., Rambaut A, Lipkin W. I., Holmes E. C. and Garry R. F. 2020 The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 Nat. Med. 26(4): 450-452
  55. Qiu Y., Zhao Y.-B., Wang Q., Li J.-Y., Zhou Z.-J., Liao C.-H. and Ge X.-Y. 2020 Predicting the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) utilizing capability as the receptor of SARS-CoV-2. Microbe. Infect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micinf.2020.03.003
  56. GRAIN 2020. New research suggests industrial livestock, not wet markets, might be origin of Covid-19. https://www. grain.org/en/article/6437-new-research-suggests-industrial-livestocknot-wet-markets-might-be-origin-of-covid-19.
  57. Wallace R. G., HoDac H., Lathrop R. H. and Fitch W. M. 2007. A statistical phylogeography of influenza A H5N1. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 104 (11): 4473-4478.
  58. Sharma E. K. 2020. India’s priority should be H1N1 virus, say health experts. https:// www.businesstoday.in/sectors/pharma/india-priority-should-be-swine-flu-say-health-expertscoronavirus/story/396904.html.
  59. PHM webpage. 2020. People’s Health Movements. https://phmovement.org/.
  60. Butler C. D. and Friel S. 2006. Time to Regenerate: Ecosystems and Health Promotion. PloS Medicine 3(10): e394.
  61. Skelton R. and Miller V 2012.The Environmental Justice Movement. https://www.nrdc.org/ stories/ environmental-justice-movement.
  62. Donkin A., Goldblatt P., Allen J., Nathanson V., and Marmot M. 2017. Global action on the social determinants of health. BMJ Glob. Health 3(Suppl 1):e000603.
  63. TheUN General Assembly. 2012. Health for All: UN resolution. http://healthforall.org/unresolution/.
  64. Levins R. and Lewontin R. 2007 Biology under the Influence: Dialectical essays on Ecology, Agriculture and Health (Monthly Review Press).
  65. Levins R. and Lopez C 1999. International Journal of Health Services 29 (2): 261293.
  66. Ferguson N. et. al. 2020. Report 9: Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID19 mortality and healthcare demand. Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25561/77482.
  67. Nuki P. 2020. The terrifying data behind the government’s sudden coronavirus lockdown. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/terrifying-data-behindgovernment-coronavirus-lockdown/.
  68. Shen C., Taleb N. N. and Bar-Yam Y 2020. Review of Ferguson et. al. Impact of NonPharmaceutical interventions…. New England Complex Systems Institute. https://necsi.edu/ review-of-ferguson-et-al-impact-of-non-pharmaceutical-interventions.
  69. Adam D. 2020 Special report: The simulations driving the world’s response to COVID-19 Nature 580(7803): 316-318.
  70. Singh R. and Adhikari R. 2020. Age-structured impact of social distancing on the COVID-19 epidemic in India. arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2003.12055.
  71. Dhar A. 2020. A critique of the Covid-19 analysis for India by Singh and Adhikari. https:// arxiv.org/abs/2004.05373
  72. Menon G. I. 2020. COVID-19 Pandemic: Should You Believe What the Models Say about India? https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/covid-19-pandemic-infectious-disease-transmission-sirseir-icmr-indiasim-agent-based-modelling
  73. WallaceR. 2020. COVID-19 and Circuits of Capital. https://monthlyreview.org/2020/04/01/ covid-19-and-circuits-of-capital/.
  74. Levins R. 1996. When science fails us. https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj2/ 1996/isj2-072/levins.htm.
  75. Sainath P. 2020. What we should do about Covid-19. https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/ what-we-should-do-about-covid-19/.